Pauly and the Hall + 3: Across the pond

Our trip to England this year was unlike any other. Aaron is certainly at the age where he understands more of what it means to travel there. And Hannah was bound and determined to learn to walk during our trip.

After my little passport mishap, the flights were just fine. Hannah napped on both of them, and was a little tough to contain while awake, but didn't fuss or cry too much. Aaron has very happy with his seatback TV - hello Disney Channel! As always, I packed entirely too many activities that the kids were that interested in, but the snacks were popular. I must remember that for next time.

One big disappointment for Aaron was that we arrived at an airport, not directly at Nanny and Grampy's house. It's funny the thing you don't think to explain to your kids, isn't it. In the immigration line, he was sat on Paul's shoulders looking everywhere for Nanny and Grampy. As soon as we stepped out of the airport to get into the car, he got very sad. He kept saying, "This is not England! I thought we were going to England." It wasn't until we got to their house - nearly 2 hours later - that I figured out that he thought England was just Nanny and Grampy's house. I spent the week trying to convince him otherwise, and made some progress. But at the end of the week, he told me, "But that airport is still not England." Fair enough, kid, they all look the same.

One of the highlights of the trip was seeing Paul's older relatives that don't get the chance to travel anymore. We had an especially wonderful visit with Auntie Ivy - at 95? or so, she's still living alone, making us tea and biscuits and actively playing with the kids. What an amazing woman! Paul's grandparents on both sides also looked very well, and had great visits with the kids. And a special visit by Uncle Neil in his policecar. I'll share some of those photos first, and get to the rest of the trip (water slides! the zoo! cousins! football (soccer)! later this weekend.

You can also see more photos added here.

Auntie Ivy in the back garden